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UConn baseball looks to make waves in AAC tourney

William S. Paxton| on May 21, 2014

STORRS -- Maybe the postseason switch is that easy to flip.

The UConn baseball team did it last season after it snuck into the Big East Tournament as the eighth and final seed, then ran the table for its first conference title since 1994. The Huskies (26-29, 9-14 American Athletic Conference) moved up a spot for The American's inaugural tournament, which begins Wednesday in Clearwater, Fla., but they still view themselves as a dangerous underdog at No. 7.

"Once you get in the conference, anything can happen," said junior outfielder Jon Testani, who played high school ball at Masuk.

UConn, which dropped 11 of 12 to close the 2013 regular season, might have found some positive vibrations the final week of this season, winning three of its last five -- including a doubleheader sweep against its tournament-opening opponent, No. 2 University of Central Florida (34-22, 17-7). The game is slated for 11 a.m. Wednesday at Bright House Field.

"I think this style of play has been in us all season, it's just been a matter of getting it out of us," Testani added. "We showed at times we could play like that. When we played the University of Florida (in early March), it was one of the best series of baseball. We lost by one run every single game, but we took them into extras and we just kept fighting.

"That's who we are as the UConn program, we just keep fighting back."

The postseason battle will have a new twist with the AAC not opting to go with the double-elimination format that the Big East used and instead adopting that Conference-USA's style. The eight postseason teams are broken into two four-team pools and will play a round-robin set of three games. The winners of each pool advance to Sunday's final (noon, ESPNU), but if two teams finish with the same record, it could get tricky.

The Huskies, who flew to Florida on Monday, were 3-6 against the Pool B teams, with a 2-1 record vs. UCF. UConn will play Houston at 11 a.m. Thursday and Temple at 11 a.m. Saturday.

"If you play round-robin, you play all three teams and if you are 3-0 after that, you are guaranteed a spot in the championship," UConn coach Jim Penders said. "If you are 2-1 and another team is 2-1, then they look at the head-to-head of the two 2-1 teams (to decide who advances)."

Penders consulted with UCF coach Terry Rooney, who has played under the round-robin format before, to figure out the best way to utilize his starting pitching for the tournament.

The Huskies' ace, redshirt junior Carson Cross (shoulder), never pitched an inning after off-season surgery, so the staff has been shuffled during the season. Senior Anthony Marzi (5-6, 2.81 ERA) figures to be part of that postseason mix even though he was sick at the end of the season. Marzi came back on two days' rest last season to pitch the championship game against Notre Dame, where he tossed a four-hit, complete game in an 8-1 win.

"He's come back on short rest before," Penders said of the left-hander from Berlin -- one of 16 players from Connecticut on the roster. "Who we play might have something to do with it."

With a strong finish to the regular season, Foran High lefty Brian Ward (4-2, 2,87 ERA) also could be in the rotation. The senior has juggled starting and reliever duties during the season, but tossed back-to-back complete games at the end.

"This season has been up and down, but that's all in the past now," Ward said. "We are just working toward (the postseason). We got ourselves in the tournament, and we know from last year when we get in the tournament we are a dangerous team. No one wants to play us, I can guarantee that.

"We are excited to go down there and leave it all out there."

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